DIVERSION
"Are you going to be much longer?" Steve asked through a yawn.
Mike chuckled. "Past your bedtime?"
It was way past everyone's bedtime. Even though he didn't need to, Steve glanced at his watch. 4:34 a.m.
Close to a major intersection, the tan LTD was pulled to the curb, lights out. The two detectives had finally been able to track down a shift-working major witness in a corner store robbery-homicide and Mike was making notes. He had asked Steve to pull the car over as he was having trouble making his writing legible in the bouncing car. The younger man had reluctantly complied.
A very audible sigh filled the car.
"Possess yourself," Mike admonished, still writing. "I'm up to what he told us about Miller…"
"What?!" Steve knew that was only about halfway through their interview.
Mike laughed. "Gotcha! Actually, I'm done." He snapped the notebook shut.
As he was putting it into his suitcoat pocket and Steve was preparing to start the car, a grey sedan approached the intersection from their right. Both men froze in mid-motion.
The sedan sat at the red light for about fifteen seconds but, when the light showed no sign of turning green, took off across the intersection through the red.
The two detectives looked at each other; Steve sighed. "Shall we?"
"You bet," Mike replied eagerly as he finished putting his pen and notebook away and Steve started the car. As the unmarked slid smoothly into the intersection to follow the grey sedan, Mike reached under the passenger seat, opened his window and slapped the gumball on the roof.
Not wanting to awaken the sleeping denizens of their city, it became a silent approach as the tan LTD quickly gained ground on the sedan.
The pursuit ended as soon as it began. As the LTD came up behind the sedan, it swung quickly to the curb and both detectives saw the lights go out and the flashers start. Steve pulled to the curb two car lengths behind.
Flashing a grin across the front seat, Mike got out. As he crossed in front of the LTD, Steve slumped down slightly behind the wheel and stifled another yawn.
He watched as Mike fished his shield out of his pocket as he approached the driver's window. Mike flipped the shield open, held it close to the window, then leaned into the driver's field of vision.
Steve heard a car approach from behind and slow down beside the LTD. He looked over, only slightly surprised to see an SFPD patrol car. The black and white's dome light snapped on and Steve recognized Patrolmen Jones and Daly.
"You guys are out late," said Daly from the passenger seat. "You need a hand?" He nodded towards Mike and the grey sedan.
Steve shook his head and smiled. "No, we're fine," he said with a hint of bemusement in his voice.
"Since when did you guys start making traffic stops?" Jones called from the driver's side.
"Yeah," Steve chuckled, and shook his head again as he tried to figure out how to put it. "Mike started doing it a couple of months ago. We saw this guy go through a red light in the middle of the night and he had me give chase.
"So we stopped the guy and Mike proceeded to tear strips off him and he scared the poor guy so much, I don't think he'll drive at night again, let alone go through a red."
"He knows he can't give out tickets, right?" Jones asked through a laugh.
"Oh, he knows," said Steve, "but the public doesn't. Mike loves it – it helps to break the boredom sometimes and he thinks he's actually performing a public service."
All three could see Mike was wrapping up his little lecture.
"Aren't you guys a little worried?" Daly ventured carefully.
"Mike figures that anybody who stops for a red light before going through it probably isn't someone on the run and I kinda think he's right. He's just putting the fear of God into some otherwise law-abiding citizens."
They watched Mike step away from the sedan, the flashers go off, and the car move away sedately. Mike watched it go, then turned back towards to the LTD, looking over at the cruiser as he opened the passenger side door. "Evening, fellas," he called over the roof pleasantly.
"Lieutenant," yelled Jones as Daly nodded his greeting. "Everything okay?"
"Couldn't be better," Mike answered as he started to get into the car.
Steve looked at the two patrolmen with a smile and raised eyebrows as he sat up straighter and shifted the LTD into drive. Daly and Jones laughed as their cruiser slid quietly away. "Have a good night, guys," Daly shouted as they drove off.
Steve glanced over at his partner, who was settling himself back into the car, a wide grin on his face. "Did you have a good time?"
Mike looked up and nodded. "Oh yeah. That was a good one. I think he almost pee'd his pants."
Steve shook his head as he turned the LTD away from the curb. "You're a maniac, you know that?"
Mike chuckled and settled back in the seat. "Yeah, that's why you love me," he laughed as the tan Galaxy disappeared into the night.